What is wrong with the great Ks?

9/10/2002 – They have all been world champions, they are all playing for Russia against
the Rest of the World. But their performance are all well under par. Karpov
and Khalifman have played 40 and 92 points below their expected scores, Kramnik
is struggling at minus 161 and Garry Kasparov lost to Ivanchuk, Judit Polgar
and Vladimir Akopian (in 25 moves!) to chalk up an incredible minus 242. Results
and games are available here.

Russia vs the Rest of the World

Moscow, September 8 to 12, 2002

All four have held world championship titles – two for over a decade each,
two more briefly. Kasparov and Kramnik have been numbers one and two for a long
time on the world rating lists. But in the third edition of the traditional
match Russia vs
the Rest of the World these great players were doing anything but bringing
glory on their country.

Anatoly Karpov: although he did sensationally well in this year's
Eurotel World
Chess Trophy in Prague, Moscow has been a different matter for the legendary
world champion of the seventies. Karpov has scored three out of seven, losing
twice (to Smirin and Radjabov), winning one (against Leko) and drawing the
rest. His performance: –40.

Alexander Khalifman: the winner of the FIDE world champion of 1999
in Las Vegas has scored 2.5 out of 7, with losses to Ponomariov and Gelfand.
Performance: –92

Vladimir Kramnik: the reigning classical chess world champion has
3.0 out of seven, having lost to Shirov and Smirin. Due to his high rating
of 2807 his performance works out to –161.

Garry Kasparov: the record world champion (1985–2000) and strongest
player on the planet lost games to Vassily Ivanchuk, Judit Polgar and Vladimir
Akopian, to whom he lost in 25 moves. Kasparov one one game (against Shirov)
and so far has shown a rating performance of an incredible minus 242.

After eight of ten rounds The World leads with three extra points, leaving
Russia with a daunting task. With their opponents in such great form it will
require a miracle for them to catch up in the two rounds that are left.

See also

9/26/2017 – The final classical game. The finals has been relatively sedate with three draws until now. But it could all end today with one decisive game. Ding Liren has the black pieces today. It's going to be an exciting game. Games kick off at 13:00 CEST (7:00 AM EST) with live commentary from Tbilisi by GMs Evgeny Miroshnichenko and WGM Keti Tsatsalashvili and live updates by our reporters Sagar Shah and Amruta Mokal.

See also

7/5/2017 – This is neither prank nor clever wording: Garry Kasparov will be playing in the official St. Louis leg of the Grand Chess Tour from August 14-19, 2017. Please note that this is the Rapid and Blitz competition, just as the ones held in Paris and Levuen these last weeks, and not the classical events. However, this is not an exhibition event, and will determine the official Grand Chess Tour rankings as well as FIDE ratings of the players. Here is the press release.

Video

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